Wildfire bill advances after changes pledged
Two state bills to prevent wildfires triggered by power lines advanced in the California Senate on Tuesday, although only after their author promised significant changes to one of them that had alarmed consumer groups and solar power advocates.
One of the bills, SB901, would require California utility companies to come up with plans for preemptively shutting down electrical lines in advance of a major windstorm like the one that fueled the Wine Country wildfires in October. The companies would also need to draft policies for reprogramming their reclosers, devices that automatically try to restart power lines after an unexpected interruption. Reclosers have been implicated in past wildfires, though investigators have not yet determined the cause of the Wine Country fires.
That bill passed easily in the Senate Energy, Utilities and Communications Committee on Tuesday. But a piece of legislation from Sen. Bill Dodd, SB1088, faced substantial resistance.
Under the legislation, utilities would have to submit comprehensive safety plans to the California Public Utilities Commission every other January, spelling out how they intended to prepare for major disasters such as earthquakes and intense storms over the coming two years and spending estimates for the work. Once the commission approved a utility’s safety plan, the regulators would be required to pass on any costs to the utility’s customers outlined in the plan.
Consumer advocates warned it could lead to overspending and weaken the commission’s control over setting electricity rates. They also objected to language at the end of the bill that they interpreted as immunizing utilities from liability when the companies’ equipment causes a major disaster.
“If SB1088 were law, PG&E shareholders would have gotten off the hook for much of the cost of San Bruno,” said Mark Toney, executive director of The Utility Reform Network consumer group, at Tuesday’s committee hearing.
Renewable power advocates, meanwhile, argued that other language in the bill could unintentionally hamper the spread of solar power and advanced batteries.
Dodd, D-Napa, promised to work with the bill’s critics, and said he would remove the wording that raised questions about liability. His assurances were enough for the committee to approve the legislation, although Sen. Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo, voted against it.
“It’s not the intent of this bill to create safe harbors for PG&E or any other utility,” Dodd said.